Give your Client Experience some Spring Cleaning
You might know me as a Calgary branding photographer, but what you don't know is that I am crazy obsessed with a solid customer experience. I just gave a talk at True to Hue’s workshop last month, all about it. If you're new to my corner of the internet, you should know that I really value running a responsible and legal business. And if you're into that, make sure to hang out with me on Instagram, because I'm always sharing tips, not only about branding photography but also client experience and running a sustainable business in general.
I am also never going to mislead you into thinking that once you hit a six figure year, you've “made it”. If you're reading this, you know that there's probably more to it than that and that's why you're looking to up your client experience game. I also use Dubsado to execute a lot of this so if you want more advice on using a customer relationship management system, check out this post here.
Map Your Customer Journey
The first step to getting better at anticipating your client's needs is looking at your customer journey. Don't overthink this, you know this better than anyone else. You built it. Ask yourself:
How do you onboard your customers?
What happens after they book you?
Do they get a contract, an invoice, and then they don't hear from you until the start date?
Do you typically start with the client call where you set the expectations?
Is there a document you send them?
Consider each point of the client journey - from onboarding to ‘the work’ to off-boarding - and find little ways to infuse your brand a little bit more and make it better. A lot of times we want to scrap what we have and start from scratch entirely. I understand the temptation, but when we look at a client experience, if you just focus on making your client experience 5% better with every new client, in a year you’re going to have a whole new business
Take a look at Frequent Asked Questions
If your customers are asking the same questions over and over again, that means there's a disconnect somewhere. And yeah, it could be that you have it in the brochure, but it's clear your customers are not reading it. If they have the same questions, answer it before they have time to ask it. Ask yourself what point they are prompted to have these questions. If you try adding it to your brochure and they're still asking it, find a different spot to answer it.
The best service providers answer questions before the customer has time to ask, so take some time and look at what questions you've been asked. I even recommend going as far as storing a word document on OneDrive so you can notice patterns. Speaking of OneDrive, you can read more about the five tools I use to run my business here [needs to link to that post I wrote last month but not live yet]
Get Personal with your Customers
Especially if your ideal client identifies as female - we love to connect with people. This is something that I try to do with each and every customer. I want to know my client on a deeper level. If I take your branding photos, I'm very likely going to follow you on Instagram, ask about your day and overall, just try and see what we have in common. There’s always a lot! I want to know the intricate parts of your business too - you're not going to get away with just telling me that you're a photographer that takes photos. The same way that I want to know everything about you, your clients likely want you to know them too. Nothing makes a client feel more cared for than when they feel like they're completely seen and understood. Give them this and you will have customers for life that are sending you referrals daily. Trust me.
Show them that you're the expert
Let’s use the first three points to show them that you’re the expert. Use your website to blog about frequently asked questions, create a resource library or opt-in or any sort of content revolving around what you know that your customer wants from you. Don't be afraid to poll your audience, but make sure that once you do you deliver on what you're teasing about. Nothing is more frustrating than being polled about what you want and then not getting it. When you do this, your customers will come to you already trusting you and your process so they feel good AND you feel good. Authority building content really is a win-win. Customers want to feel reassured they made the right choice to hire you/buy from you.
Elevating your client experience
Hopefully this gives you a good starting point when it comes to revamping and elevating your customer experience. But I want to go back one more time and tell you that the best way to provide a consistent client experience - whether somebody books you when you're absolutely slammed or slow (does anyone else make more mistakes when they're actually slow for once) - you need to be using a CRM like Dubsado. You are too busy for everything to not run like clockwork.
Dubsado is something that has been a game changer in my business and life over the past few years. I created a course on how I use it here, but you can just find out more about why I chose it as a CRM here. If you have any questions about it, send me a DM on Instagram and I'm happy to provide an honest opinion (and yes, I've used HoneyBook before and am happy to chat about the difference).